Thanks for your reply, I purchased Polyboard from Asher in Sydney ( he appeared to be the aussie agent back then )

I Turn my Dynalog dxf files to G code thru Cut2d and save them on a thumb drive.

Seems to work ok for what I need at the moment.

I use cad for creating dxf drawings for all the funny shapes that I want to cnc, I got involved late last year in producing some Louvered doors for a client, Created the housings on cad, worked out great.

Not sure that I need to get the Pro PP version, Whats the difference between the standard version that I have and Pro Version ?

I purchased Polyboard as Version 5 was being developed and it has been a great journey learning and evolving as version 5 has taken shape to this point.

I think it is fantastic what you and Stefan are doing with this site on the net, just love clicking on and checking out whats going on in other parts of the world.

I am not interested in mass production of my works, I have been in the furniture industry 50 years this year so I have seen many changes in production over the years.

I have my own workshop on my property here in Perth Western Australia, and over the years I have collected all the Toy,s one needs

( still keep my eye out for the latest gear )

I have a small cnc Router ( 1800 x1200 Bed size ) which I used for drilling carcass parts & and enjoy doing shapes and odd things on it, I use Blum,s Dynaplan for my set outs for Hinges, draw runners, shelf holes & carcass holes.

I enjoy building my projects from the ground up as they say, so I enjoy cutting and edging my panels ( we use white melamine 16mm board here for most of our stnd cabinets with various finished doors & faces.

If I upgrade to Polyboard Pro P so that I can manage those shaped panels ( not overly concerned with the hardware side as I use Blum hardware and keep a good range of the bits I need ) what would the upgrade cost be ?

I have been playing around with ProgeCad on there 30 day free trial and I may be interested in purchasing that also.

Many Thanks

Peter

March 20, 20155:39 am

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Hi Pete,

Polyboard Standard will not manage hardware.

This means that parts drawings will only be rectangles with no positioning of drillings or grooves etc.

I’m not even sure that the version prints part drawings.

In general we don’t sell the Standard version as although it allows one to build more complex projects with slopes etc. you can’t build these project because you can’t output a printed dimensioned drawing of the part.

The Pro version will manage hardware and print dimensioned drawings for each part.

If one doesn’t have a CNC this version gives everything you need to build any project, hardware lists, part by part drawings with the hardware positions marked and dimensioned.

The Pro PP version does the same except it will also write the files to drive a CNC router.

The version best adapted depends on the way you work.

In my opinion, in today’s economic context, the majority of small woodworking businesses making made to measure cabinetry have several options depending on how they want to cut and manufacture:

Either they want to design, cut, manufacture and install, in which case they need at least a small CNC and Polyboard Pro PP, see this article for an example of a small shop using this solution:

Or they want to design, install and subcontract the cut and machining to a specialist company., in which case a good option is Polyboard

In this case Polyboard Std can be a good option because you can design and price and then send the file to a supplier to order the parts.

It would also be possible to simply use the free version as this version has all the design functions, however it’s not possible to get instantly the price of the project as you design, a great asset if you are quoting for a job.

As well as the Standard version outputs the cutting lists for one-off projects that you might want to build occasionally in shop.

Of course, these are the 2 extremes and various mixes of the 2 situations might be better for some companies.

However, I do feel that, in today’s context, small businesses will have to focus more and more on the jobs they are good and efficient at, design, proposing solutions and installation, whereas cutting and manufacturing will be less and less profitable and better outsourced to businesses organised specifically around these operations.